Our Story
In 2019, a few days after Independence Day, The Brown Center & Clinics, known then as the Center for Green Psychiatry, opened its first office in the beautiful Austin suburb of West Lake Hills, Texas. The term "Green Psychiatry" represents a natural approach to wellness that incorporates self-care with medication management for optimizing mental health. Although we have a different name today, our basic principles are the same: supporting public mental health education, practicing evidence-based integrative medicine, and providing outstanding clinical care.
Back then, when we first opened our doors, our intentions for the center, and how we could help our patients, were ambitious. We wanted to create a mental health and wellness space that was peaceful, affordable, and accessible to the Austin community. However, after several months renovating our new office and less than a year into our practice, the coronavirus pandemic had a different idea for us.
​
We thought: This is not what we had planned for. What should we do?
If the pandemic were not enough, in the United States, we were enduring a stressful political election and watching widespread civil unrest playing out on smart phones and television screen. Depression rates were on the rise and we were noticing that people needed mental health professionals more than ever. Thankfully, telehealth (or virtual appointments) allowed us to meet the increasing demand, despite limitations on the services we could provider in the office..
Interestingly, prior to the pandemic, we had committed to never becoming a telehealth practice; we believed that it would take away from the humanistic aspect that is so critically important in mental health treatment and prevention. However, after listening to our patients and seeing firsthand how virtual appointments made mental health treatment even more accessible by reducing commute times to and from the clinic, mitigating the consequences of stigma ( for example seeing someone you might know in the waiting room), and being able to speak with your provider in a comfortable space that you choose, we made the decision to stick with it. Today, we are predominately a telehealth practice. Our patients love it, and we have worked with thousands of patients not only in Austin, but all across the state of Texas.
In late 2025, as we have continued to grow, we changed our name from the Center for Green Psychiatry to The Brown Center & Clinics. We are committed today more than ever before to continue our three-part mission of supporting public mental health education, practicing evidence-based integrative medicine, and providing outstanding clinical care.
​
Thank you for taking interest in our story and we still believe that the best for mental health is yet to come.